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Protein Sciences says vaccine could be available by the end of the year

A Connecticut bioscience company has been given the go-ahead to conduct human trials of its swine flu vaccine.

Meriden based Protein Sciences has been producing doses of swine flu vaccine since June, and now the Food and Drug Administration has told the company it can set up a human clinical trial.The company says this means its product might be available commercially before the end of this year.CEO Dan Adams says Protein Sciences has had to adapt quickly to the situation.

"We’re expanding the company rapidly.We’ve grown in the past couple of months from 45 people to almost 60 and we’ll grow to a hundred in the next year.We also can outsource our technology to other facilities to manufacture H1N1 vaccine, so if there’s a need be, we could relatively quickly be in the business of manufacturing millions of doses per week."

Protein Sciences produces its vaccine using an insect cell technology, which is quicker and cleaner than traditional methods where vaccines are grown in eggs.Clinical trials of the company’s vaccine are already underway in Australia.